Mascot hall shines light on furry cheerleaders
SOUTH BEND, IND. Do you prefer Chicago’s Benny the Bull or Boston’s Wally the Green Monster? The deviousness of Arizona State’s Sparky the Sun Devil or the goofiness of South Carolina’s Cocky? Or maybe you’re more traditional, and like Penn State’s Nittany Lion. If you’re offbeat, go for Stanford’s Tree.
Those are among the choices people had when the Mascot Hall of Fame announced its ballot of six candidates for the hall at a groundbreaking ceremony Friday in northwestern Indiana.
After more than a decade of existing only online, the mascots are getting a place to flock together somewhere other than sidelines, ESPN commercials or the Capital One Mascot Challenge.
Sam Weyen thinks the hall shall never see a mascot more lovely than the Stanford Tree.
“What other mascot strikes as much joy in the hearts of fans as it does creepy fear? We have a monopoly on that,” said the symbolic systems major from Suwanee, Ga., who has been the Tree since February.
“I can’t think of a more iconic mascot and one that has been kicked out of so many stadiums as well.”
Dave Johnson, who was Penn State’s Nittany Lion from 2005 to 2007, believes that mascot should be inducted because of simplicity and tradition. It’s stuck to the same basic look since the 1920s.
“When you think of a college mascot, a lot of these other mascots … They’re kind of gimmicky. They’ve got the inflatable mascots bouncing around, all that type of thing, and they’re limited in what they can do,” he said.
“In the ever-changing landscape of college campuses, the lion is always the same.”
The Mascot Hall of Fame will be built in Whiting, a city along Lake Michigan.
To date, 10 pro and seven collegiate mascots have been inducted.
The pro honourees include Mr. Met, KC Wolf of the Kansas City Chiefs, Rocky of the Denver Nuggets and Jazz Bear of the Utah Jazz.
The college legends include Ohio State’s Brutus Buckeye, Wisconsin’s Bucky the Badger and Tennessee’s Smokey.